Department for Transport

Great Western Railway Line

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the additional cost of installing diesel motors in all the new Intercity Express Programme trains due to operate on the Great Western lines to Swansea, Bristol and Hereford.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The financial provisions of the Intercity Express Programme contracts are commercially sensitive and cannot be released. The Secretary of State for Transport remains committed to making sure the full range of passenger benefits of these new trains are delivered as soon as possible.

Great Western Railway Line

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government by how much journey times between London Paddington and (1) Bristol, (2) Cardiff, and (3) Swansea, will be greater than expected due to the decision to defer electrification on parts of the route, the increased weight of new trains and the reduced power output of diesel motors.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Timetables whilst the Great Western is being modernised are under development as part of the industry’s timetable bidding process. We are investing in this route to deliver better services and new trains with thousands more seats. This is an ambitious and challenging undertaking, but real progress is being made. We are committed to improving services for passengers on the Great Western line and once complete journey times between London, Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea are expected to reduce by around 15minutes.

Railway Stations: Access

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which stations will be affected by Network Rail's decision to defer works on the Access for All programme from Control Period 5 until Control Period 6.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Sir Peter Hendy’s report into the Network Rail enhancement delivery portfolio recommended that around £50 million of Access for All funding should be deferred beyond 2019. Most of the stations in the programme will be delivered as planned but where construction of stations is deferred, design work will still continue to ensure work can start on site as soon as possible. We remain committed to funding the programme in full.

Settle-Carlisle Railway Line

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, and what discussions they have had and are planning to have with train operators and local campaign groups, about (1) the improvement of services on the Settle and Carlisle line, and (2) extending Midland Main Line or East Coast Main Line services from Leeds to Carlisle and Glasgow via the Settle and Carlisle line.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Through the Northern Rail franchise, the Settle & Carlisle line will benefit from an extra departure from Leeds between 1600 and 1900 and two extra Sunday services. The trains will also be fully refurbished including:-o Re-seating and re-cushioningo LED lightingo WiFio CCTVo New floor coveringso Toilet with baby-change facility. There will also be investment in station improvements on the line No discussions have, or are planned to, occur with relevant train operators on those routes (East Midlands Trains and Virgin East Coast Trains) or local campaign groups to extend services from Leeds to Carlisle and Glasgow via the Settle and Carlisle line. However, the work to specify the next East Midlands franchise has commenced and a vital part of meeting the Department for Transport’s ambitions involves asking stakeholders and passengers what they would like to see from the new East Midlands franchise. As with all franchise competitions, a public consultation exercise will be launched shortly through which aspirations for future facilities and rail services can be submitted to the Department.

Department for Communities and Local Government

County Councils

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the independent research commissioned for the County Councils Network on restructuring two-tier areas.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Whilst the Government has not undertaken any detailed analysis of the two papers published by the County Councils Network on re-structuring two-tier areas, it considers that they will make a useful contribution to the debate on future governance structures across the country.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Norfolk Island

Lord Northbrook: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the situation of the people of Norfolk Island and of the legality of the actions which have been carried out by the Commonwealth of Australia on the island to absorb it into the State of New South Wales.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: As a Territory of Australia, the governance of Norfolk Island is a matter for the Australian Government.

Department for International Development

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether British aid to Palestine has been frozen in whole or in part; and if so, to what extent, and on what grounds.

Lord Bates: The UK remains firmly committed to providing aid to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Secretary of State is conducting a full examination of DFID’s programme in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to ensure that UK taxpayers’ money is spent in the right places and in the right way.

Department for Education

GCE A-level

Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of whether the current A-level examinations in archaeology and history of art have educational and social value; and what steps, if any, they will take to discourage the relevant examination board from implementing proposals to omit them from the examination curriculum.

Lord Nash: It is disappointing that AQA will stop developing qualifications in History of Art and Archaeology, in view of the value of having a broad range of high-quality choices available to A level students. The Government published content for both subjects in January 2016. It is for individual exam boards to decide which qualifications to offer, and the option for AQA or another exam board to develop specifications in future will remain open. We are in discussion with the exam boards on this issue. Neither subject is a pre-requisite for degree level study, and both are taken by a relatively small number of students. In 2015/16, there were 340 entries to A level Archaeology, and 776 entries to A level History of Art.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Local Government: Procurement

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the operation of social value in the local government procurement process.

Lord Ashton of Hyde: In 2014/2015, Lord Young conducted a review of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. The scope included local government. The review findings and recommendations can be found on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/social-value-act-review and are attached.



Social Value Act Review report 
(PDF Document, 717.31 KB)




CO to Lord Young Letter 12022015
(PDF Document, 134.62 KB)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Cats: Tagging

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider introducing microchipping for cats to address the issue of lost and abandoned animals.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Government recommends that owners identify their cats by a microchip, and recognises the advantages of doing so. However, there are no proposals to make microchipping of cats compulsory.

Slaughterhouses: CCTV

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the Food Standards Agency’s recommendation that all slaughterhouses should have CCTV cameras installed.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Food Standards Agency has a long standing policy of support for the installation of CCTV in slaughterhouses as a tool to protect animal welfare. The Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) was commissioned to produce an independent assessment of the benefits of CCTV in slaughter houses and its report was published in February 2015. It concluded that CCTV can offer some real benefits but it cannot replace the need for businesses to have proper monitoring procedures in place. This is an issue which we are keeping under review.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent consultation on animal licensing, whether they intend to bring forward regulations to ensure that all dog breeders are licensed.

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to introduce constraints on the third party sale of puppies.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Government consulted on changes to the regulations on the breeding and sale of dogs earlier this year and proposed that all dog breeders that breed and sell three or more litters of puppies per year should hold a licence. The Government did not propose in the consultation banning third party sales. Such a ban is not supported by many of the major animal welfare organisations.  The Government published a summary of replies to the consultation on 15 September this year. The Government’s response to the consultation will be published in due course.

Greyhounds: Animal Welfare

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the report by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on greyhound welfare, whether they have considered introducing a centralised database to enable retired greyhounds which are no longer able to race to be traced.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report on greyhound welfare suggested that the introduction of the Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2015 should improve the traceability of greyhounds when they finish racing. The Committee called on the industry to be transparent about the destiny of retired greyhounds. The main industry regulatory body, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB), maintains a database of all greyhounds registered to run on GBGB tracks and records when and how a greyhound leaves GBGB regulated racing. The Government does not consider that it is necessary to introduce a centralised database to trace retired greyhounds.

Floods: Housing

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of homes in England that are at significant risk of flooding.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Environment Agency estimates the number of residential properties in England in areas at high risk of flooding to be: 169,000 properties in areas at high risk of flooding from rivers and the sea239,000 properties in areas at high risk of flooding from surface waterHigh risk means there is a greater than a 3.3% chance of flooding in any given year

Floods: Business

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of businesses of all kinds in England that are at significant risk of flooding.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Environment Agency estimates the number of non-residential properties in England, in areas at high risk of flooding, to be: 102,000 properties in areas at high risk of flooding from rivers and the sea85,000 properties in areas at high risk of flooding from surface waterHigh risk means there is a greater than a 3.3% chance of flooding in any given year. Non-residential also includes properties such as churches, public houses, schools and offices.

Home Office

Terrorism

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 3 November (HL2483), alongside which experienced practitioners and non-governmental organisations the Home Office will work.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The practitioners involved were selected following a rigorous and open procurement exercise, and have considerable experience working in this area.

Counter-terrorism

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the CONTEST strategy and the Prevent programme earn the confidence and cooperation of immigrant communities and of relevant professionals in health, education and other disciplines called upon to implement them.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The aim of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST) is to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and securely. Prevent is a key part of CONTEST. It is delivered in partnership with communities. In 2015/16 we delivered 142 community- based projects reaching over 42, 000 participants.We regularly consult with partners in education and health to ensure that the prevent duty is presented as one of the many duties public bodies have to safeguard children and/or vulnerable people from exploitation.The Prevent strategy is just one of a number of programmes designed to safeguard people from all forms of exploitation – sexual, criminal or terrorist.

Ministry of Defence

Middle East: Peacekeeping Operations

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the names of all the investigators who have been recruited to investigate alleged abuses by soldiers and former soldiers whilst serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Earl Howe: It is our policy that the names of individuals below Senior Civil Service level are withheld under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. All investigators who have been recruited to investigate alleged abuses by soldiers and former soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq are below this level.

Iraq: Islamic State

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether British special forces operating in Iraq have been issued with a list containing the names of British citizens fighting for so-called Islamic State, whom they have been ordered to kill or capture.

Earl Howe: The Government has a long-standing policy not to comment on the activities of our Special Forces.

Middle East: Military Aid

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts: To ask Her Majesty’s Government to which groups in Iraq and Syria UK armed forces are providing training.

Earl Howe: In Iraq, UK military personnel are training Iraqi Security forces (including Kurdish Peshmerga). UK forces are also participating in a US-led Train and Equip programme to train selected members of vetted moderate Syrian opposition forces at locations outside Syria.

Department for International Trade

*No heading*

Lord Shipley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Brexit, what targets will be set by the Department for International Trade for inward investment into (1) the English regions, (2) London, (3) Scotland, (4) Wales, and (5) Northern Ireland.

Lord Price: The Department for International Trade takes a whole of the UK approach to trade and investment. We do monitor regional performance and results from 2015/16 are available in our Inward Investment Results on gov.uk(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dit-inward-investment-results-for-the-tax-year-2015-to-2016/department-for-international-trade-inward-investment-results-2015-to-2016)



DIT Inward Investment Results 2015/16
(PDF Document, 3.46 MB)

Overseas Trade: Central America

Lord Northbrook: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to promote trade between the UK and the countries of the Central American Integration System.

Lord Price: The Department for International Trade (DIT) has trade promotion officers working in Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Supported by DIT sector resources, they are focused on identifying high value opportunities for UK exporters in sectors including Financial Services, Mining, Railways and Water. DIT commits resources to markets that hold the biggest potential for UK companies to export to, and to attract investment from. DIT is also exploring ways to work more proactively other countries that make up the Central American Integration System, specifically Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. This as part of DIT’s developing regional approach to Latin America, where today we have an established DIT presence in a total of 12 markets.

Department of Health

Tuberculosis

Baroness Suttie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people were treated for latent tuberculosis in the UK in each of the last five years.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Unlike active tuberculosis (TB), latent TB infection (LTBI) is not a public health risk and is not statutorily notifiable. LTBI treatment records are held locally and because there is no nationally available data, it is not possible to state how many people were treated for latent TB in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years. A systematic latent TB testing and treatment programme for a defined group of individuals is one of the ten key ‘areas for action’ in the Collaborative Tuberculosis Strategy for England 2015 to 2020, and is currently being rolled out. A monitoring and evaluation system for this new programme is being established which aims to collate national data on LTBI and early data has been published in this year’s Tuberculosis in England: 2016 report. The first figures available for the LTBI programme recorded 256 individuals starting latent TB treatment for the time period of April 2015 to July 2016, although this is likely to be an underestimate. Copies of the Tuberculosis in England report and Collaborative Tuberculosis strategy are attached.



TB Annual Report
(PDF Document, 7.29 MB)




Collaborative TB Strategy for England
(PDF Document, 1.52 MB)

Care Homes: Standards

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that care homes have sufficient facilities to function adequately.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. All providers of regulated activities must register with the CQC and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality. The fundamental standards describe the basic requirements that care providers, including care homes, should always meet, and set out the outcomes that services users should always expect. The standards include requirements regarding the facilities and equipment care homes must have. One refers to premises and equipment, and requires that the provider must ensure that all premises and equipment are clean, secure, suitable for the purpose used, properly maintained and appropriately located for the purpose for which they are used. A further standard refers to safe care and treatment and includes a requirement that equipment used by the provider is safe, used in a safe way and that sufficient quantities are available to ensure the safety of service users and to meet their needs. The CQC inspects against the standards and has a range of enforcement powers that it can employ if it finds a provider is not following them. Following inspection, the CQC rates providers on a four point scale - outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. These ratings give patients and the public a fair, balanced and easy to understand assessment of performance and quality. Services rated inadequate receive help to improve, but any that are unable or unwilling to do so face closure.